The launch of JUST RIGHT: SEARCHING FOR THE GOLDILOCKS PLANET is a week away. To celebrate, I thought I’d share a behind-the-scenes look at the process of illustrating this book, from the very earliest scribbles to a final book. But before I go on, look what I got in the mail:

Of course the cat inspected them first

20 brand-new copies! They are so new, in fact, that the spine makes that cracking sound when you open one. My bookshelf is only so big, so I’m going to give a couple of these babies away to whomever wants one. Sign up for my email list any time before January 29 and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a signed copy. (If you’re already signed up you’ll be entered in the drawing automatically.) Winners will be announced Jan 29!

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Now, on to the sketches.

This book started out with sample art for Roaring Brook. My editor Emily took these sketches to the acquisitions team to help them visualize how Curtis's manuscript could potentially come to life. The challenge with this book was to develop a visual side story with a character that could make the scientific text more accessible for kids, and I tried out various ideas in these early sketches. (As you can see, one made it into the final book.)

I knew from the beginning that I wanted the character to have curly hair that's recognizable in silhouette.

Once the book was officially a go, I had a lot of research to do about extrasolar planets, the scientific tools that enable us to find them, the history of their discovery, and astrobiology. On location research wasn't possible, of course, but I was able to get help from various experts along the way who generously answered my questions. (An extra special thanks to Sarah Rugheimer who took the time to Skype with me all the way from England, and Michele Lanan, the biologist in the family who had many insights about alien evolution.)

The alien landscapes are some of my favorite illustrations in the book and one of the things I'm most proud of. I put a lot of effort in trying to design extraterrestrial ecosystems that would feel strange yet familiar. I tried to think of the entire life cycles of the different species and how they would eat, reproduce and interact with one another. It was a real challenge to come up with something new. Nearly everything you can possibly imagine has already existed on Earth at some point.

Some early alien designs.

One of the final alien landscapes.

In the meantime, I was also working on thumbnail sketches. We bounced back various ideas about how the scientific information could be presented. A scrapbook? A fictional voyage in space? A museum? Eventually we settled on the narrative of the girl who visits the planetarium and gets her own telescope at the end.

The second round of thumbnails.

My editor Emily did a great job of pushing me to blend the real and imaginary elements of the story together to make the visual narrative more interesting and less textbook-like. Thank goodness for Emily, I don't know what I would have done without her. (Also thank goodness for family and friends, who tolerate my endless picture book ramblings and help me get un-stuck every time I'm stumped.)

This lava pit in the floor was my mom's contribution.

A detail of the final lava pit. Don't try this at home!

I used a tripod and projector to transfer my final drawing onto the paper. Someday I'm going to have to find a more comfortable way to do this, as those lamps have been known to swing down and smash into my head without warning. But this is how I did it for my next four books to be published, so I might as well admit to it.

Losing all feeling in my arm, no doubt.

I took this time-lapse video to illustrate the last (and favorite) step of the process: painting the final art. I've had a few people ask how I created the milky way sky effect in watercolor, so you can see that demonstrated here. Each painting usually takes about two hours or so, although some of the really star-heavy spreads took longer because of all the white dots. I toss about fifty percent of my final painting attempts and will redo them from scratch a second or even a third time as needed.

I've added this video to my new "videos" page where I plan to put more time-lapses and painting demos in the future. Or you can subscribe on youtube.

A fisherman takes his son for a trip out on the water. When they encounter a whale entangled at sea, they realize a connection that transcends the animal kingdom.

Lanan tells her wordless tale in strong, confident watercolors…[her] cinematic storytelling pace never flags. She distills the global problem of sea life trapped by nets into a tightly focused narrative in which those who caused the damage are able to save the animal they hurt.

-Publishers Weekly

Available for preorder now!

]]>JUST RIGHT book trailerhttp://jessicalanan.com/just-right-book-trailer/
http://jessicalanan.com/just-right-book-trailer/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 20:29:58 +0000http://jessicalanan.com/?p=517548122Greetings! Here’s a little book trailer I put together to give you a taste of what you can find inside Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet (coming in January from Roaring Brook Press.) You can preorder the book from your local bookstore, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.

Do you wonder if humans are the only beings who wonder if they are alone in the universe?

Our sun is a star. In the night sky are all kinds of stars, and orbiting those stars are planets like the ones in our own solar system. Could those planets have life like we do on Earth? Planet Earth is not too big, not too small, not too hot, and not too cold. It’s just right. Our very own Goldilocks planet . . . .

Follow a young girl as she explores these questions in this gorgeous book about the wondrous search for another Goldilocks planet.

A Junior Library Guild selection

The enthusiastic main character lightens what could be weighty scientific information, providing an entry point for newcomers. Lanan’s pleasing, watercolorlike artwork moves between expansive visions of outer space and panels that highlight key concepts. An ideal addition for libraries building or updating STEAM collections.

★ School Library Journal, starred review

Lanan’s illustrations take the concepts to the next level; the choices of scale, color, and detail in her planetary landscapes make visible the text’s content. The clever use of a parallel narrative in the art, which features a young (brown-skinned) girl and her family as they visit a planetarium and bring home a telescope, situates the images of possible other worlds in that character’s imagination. – Horn Book

This is the best kind of science writing—a book that offers as many questions as answers. Aspiring astronomers will love it. – Booklist

The illustrations, suffused with glowing light, are dynamically varied, including a colorful double-page spread of the Milky Way galaxy, panels carrying information, fanciful visions of other worlds, and an all-black spread with just one stark sentence in white: “Or maybe it’s like nothing we can even imagine.” Lanan effectively balances the girl’s visual narrative with the heavier scientific exposition of the text. […] An attractive and informative volume for young stargazers. – Kirkus

]]>Book Announcement: Lost by Richard Hohttp://jessicalanan.com/book-announcement-lost-by-richard-ho/
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 21:22:15 +0000http://jessicalanan.com/?p=517548084
I’m happy to announce a new project in the works, Lost by Richard Ho! The story is about a package that takes a rather unexpected journey.

I’m so excited to be working with the wonderful Emily Feinberg again. I know we’re going to have a blast working on this one.

Richard is also the author of the upcoming book “Red Rover,” coming in fall of 2019 from Roaring Brook Press, about the Mars Curiosity rover (illustrated by Katherine Roy.) I’m definitely going to be pre-ordering that one. You can check out Richard’s website here.

A young girl looks out her window, pondering the universe. A subsequent family trip to the planetarium gives her a lot to think about. Are we alone in the universe? Are there other “Goldilocks planets” out there capable of sustaining life, planets that are “not too hot and not too cold, not too big and not too small, not too soft and not too hard” but “just right”? Older adult readers might hear the voice of Carl Sagan in the narrative, an authoritative, planetarium-movie voice explaining the universe with a focus on “exoplanets,” planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system. Kids may imagine Neal DeGrasse Tyson. Woven through the text are the twin narratives of the girl and her family’s visit to the planetarium and its “Searching for Exoplanets” exhibition. The illustrations, suffused with glowing light, are dynamically varied, including a colorful double-page spread of the Milky Way galaxy, panels carrying information, fanciful visions of other worlds, and an all-black spread with just one stark sentence in white: “Or maybe it’s like nothing we can even imagine.” Lanan effectively balances the girl’s visual narrative with the heavier scientific exposition of the text. The girl, who has exuberantly kinky hair, and her family present black; other planetarium guests are a diverse group. Thorough backmatter includes books, websites, astronomy clubs, and various websites for further exploration. An attractive and informative volume for young stargazers. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Readers join a brown-skinned girl with a polka-dotted backpack as she asks questions about the stars and visits a space museum, where she watches exoplanets careen overhead in a planetarium. In sweeping, inky art, Lanan captures the child’s dawning awareness of the vastness of the universe. Manley’s writing swings gracefully between factual descriptions (“Earth orbits in our solar system’s ‘habitable zone’ ”) and more lyrical observations: “All stars twinkle, but some stars also seem to wink at us… as if saying, ‘I know a secret.’ ” Back home after the museum trip, the child considers the types of life-forms that might be out there. Richly informative prose and intimate yet expansive art show a child’s contagious enthusiasm for the book’s subject. Includes a timeline of astronomical discoveries and suggestions for further reading. Ages 5–9. (Jan.)

]]>This Friday: Outdoor Creations Art Showhttp://jessicalanan.com/this-friday-outdoor-creations-art-show/
Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:54:15 +0000http://jessicalanan.com/?p=517548067One other announcement–if you’re looking for something to do this Friday, stop by the Great Frame Up in Longmont to see the opening of the Outdoor Creations art show, with work showcasing Boulder County’s open space parks. I’ll have one of my plein air watercolors in the show. (Plus, there’s free food.) If you’re not able to make it Friday, the show will be up until November 2.
]]>Working Bighttp://jessicalanan.com/working-big/
http://jessicalanan.com/working-big/#commentsWed, 10 Oct 2018 19:47:18 +0000http://jessicalanan.com/?p=517548064I decided to try a bigger painting yesterday: almost a full sheet, 18×30 inches. With this scale I could use big flat brushes for the background wash and really stand back and use my arm, resulting in more interesting brushwork overall. I kept a spray bottle handy and just kept on wetting the paper as needed until I got the whole background blocked in. It helped that it was a wet, humid day. Usually watercolor washes dry lightning-fast here in Colorado. Then I got out my trusty hair dryer so that I could start on the foreground, and promptly blew a fuse.

The Blacktail Doe

]]>http://jessicalanan.com/working-big/feed/1A Cumulus Morninghttp://jessicalanan.com/a-cumulus-morning/
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 23:02:54 +0000http://jessicalanan.com/?p=517548061This morning was perfect: 60 degrees and breezy with warm sunshine and that vivid blue Colorado sky dotted with cumulus clouds. It was worth skipping out of the studio to take it all in before the cold front sets in.

The challenge here was to show the different ridges receding into the distance. (In retrospect I wish I had pushed the atmospheric perspective a little more, or somehow simplified the middle ridge.) The huge difference in tone between the dark Ponderosa trees and bleached dry grass can make value organization very confusing in this kind of landscape.

(It didn’t help that the bands of shadow from the clouds kept moving, alternately throwing different areas into light and shadow. Nor did it help that the wind blew over my entire easel several times!)

I limited the palette to Natural Sienna, Ultramarine, and Permanent Alizarin crimson, with a tiny bit of Pthalo blue in the deepest part of the sky. Plus whatever muck was on my palette.